Double Indemnity

Released 1944

Distributor Paramount

James M. Cain’s‚ 1935 Liberty Magazine novella was based on the celebrated 1927 Ruth Snyder murder case that Sam Fuller always wanted to make a movie about. Billy Wilder’s 1944 hit is the quintessential LA noir, and many of its locations can still be visited today. Nominated for seven Academy Awards but won none. At 16 min, 12 seconds in, the only known footage of cowriter Raymond Chandler appears, looking up at Fred MacMurray walking past him. Remade for tv in 1973.

About Josh Olson

Josh Olson was the only student in his second grade class to see The House That Dripped Blood. Many years later, he wrote and directed the no-budget horror film, Infested, a brutal assault on The Big Chill, with zombies. He went on to write the screenplay for A History of Violence and was nominated for the WGA, BAFTA and Academy Awards for Best Screenplay. He kept losing to Larry McMurtry, but that’s okay. He co-wrote the teleplay for the Masters of Science Fiction episode, The Discarded, with Harlan Ellison, and is currently writing a sophisticated thriller, Tabloid, for Mick Jagger.